IRWINDALE >> Sriracha, the hip hot sauce concoction that changed America’s taste buds and worked its way in to the pantry of the world’s top chefs, originates on a Kern County farm where harvest season is in full swing.

The season hasn’t been without difficulties as city officials recently sought to close the Huy Fong Foods factory at the peak of its production after neighbors complained about odors making their lives difficult. A windstorm hurt the crops. And demand always outstrips supply of the world famous and super-popular rooster sauce.

And yet company founder and CEO David Tran remains modest about the significance of his brand in the pantheon of great American success stories.

“The best Sriracha is the one you make yourself,” Tran said. “If you ask me the formula, I will tell you. The best way is to serve it as fresh as possible. My secret ingredient is fresh.”

During the 12-week harvest season, about 30 trucks, each carrying 21 tons of chilies, arrive at the factory each day. Tran is meticulous about each part of the process from picking to bottling. He designed most of the new equipment in his factory himself and even spends every morning out in the chili field inspecting the peppers to make sure they meet his standards.

Tran has always operated under a somewhat unconventional business model, never paying for a single advertisement for fear his product would become so popular he would not have enough supply to meet the demand. Regardless, the sauce has become wildly popular since he founded his U.S. company in 1979 after immigrating from Vietnam. It is now sold in every U.S. state and on every continent across the globe.

It’s so popular that more than 800 rooster sauce lovers flooded a hip Arts District event space in Los Angeles two weeks ago for the first L.A. Sriracha Festival.

Advertisement

There, 11 area chefs created their own signature dishes featuring the sauce.

“Huy Fong has really put Sriracha on the map in the U.S., and they have a really impressive operation,“ Sriracha Festival co-founder Josh Lurie said.

Huy Fong’s Executive Operations Officer Donna Lam said the company’s popularity and new openness with the media is great, but it also makes her a little nervous.

“For me, I’m fearful that we’ve become so well known,” Lam said. “I’d rather stay the secret sauce. ... I’ve seen this grow from the ground up. Sometimes I feel like it’s a dream. I remember sitting in my office when the factory was 5,000 square feet with two phones.”

And with such popularity, supply is always a problem. This year, for example, a windstorm wiped out a chunk of the chili plants. Tran said he’s also concerned about an impending rainstorm that could hinder the harvest even further.

“This year, we prepared to grow more chilies, and finally the weather was just too bad,” Tran said. “We will have the same or less than last year.”

Tran said he refuses to get chilies from any other farm, or buy any from a store that aren’t fresh.

“We could go to Mexico and get chilies, but I like giving the U.S. more jobs,” Tran said. “Some people say it’s crazy not to make more money.”

Huy Fong employees about 50 people year-round, but it hires an extra 60 temporary workers during the harvest season.

After the chilies arrive, they are crushed, mixed with vinegar and salt to make “chili mash,” which is then stored in the warehouse to make Sriracha and the company’s other two sauces, for the rest of the year.

The first batch of chilies were processed in Tran’s new custom-designed factory, which was built last year with the help of city redevelopment funds. But Lam said the company is still bottling at its Rosemead facility while it fine tunes the equipment in Irwindale.

“We have so much equipment to test and modify, it’s taking a lot longer than we expected,” Lam said.

For Tran, it’s never been about the fame or the money but about making a fresh chili sauce for people to enjoy.